>> the summer's gentle wind blew the apple from the tree, but few are willing to shake the tree. one of the architects of the new south the day dr. king gave his address in washington, the south was under military occupation. the reason minister said don't just stop and talk about the dream, d.c. was locked down that day. federal troops had been ordered to be on guard at the train station. the bus station, the airport. cars didn't have a tag from d.c. or virginia or maryland, they were stopped and profiled and put under suspicion. the day dr. king gave that

speech from texas across the florida up to southern maryland, we couldn't use a public toilet, we couldn't room in holiday inn, we couldn't buy ice cream at howard johnson's. they said our money was counterfeited. against those odds, marion volunteered to be an unarmed soldier in the army for justice. he was not killed, but there are the wounds -- every soldier is a wounded soldier. when the war was over, the unarmed soldier had won the war. today the falcons can play the panthers. he helped to make the south investment worthy and attractive. [inaudible] state legislators and the congress. no southern governor or senator

has his or her name on that new south, marion was one of the architects of the new south and the new america. the little rock nine led by ernie green, the greensboro four -- [inaudible] led by martin king. ralph abernathy, fred shuttles worth, julius hobson, hilda mason -- [inaudible] stokely carmichael, barr nerd lafayette -- bernard lafayette, walter -- [inaudible] wyatt t. walker, sutton, wilkens, marion barry, these were the souls that built the new south. ella baker, -- [inaudible] [applause] marion barry, his name was on the other roll of freedom

fighters. these are but the few on the roll of the freedom fighters in the sacrificial service of the new south. no southern governor or publisher has his name on that list. but that wasn't enough. many started in 1960 and stopped in '63, and some in '65. they cashed in their pensions. marion was a long distance runner. he had the will to run -- [inaudible] blacks in d.c. didn't have much, and much of this city was off limits to blacks. william dawson -- [inaudible] they couldn't get their haircut at the capitol. when blacks in d.c. could only live in certain parts of town, blacks in d.c. have never walked the corridors of city hall with any authority. in d.c., the emancipated washington and much of southern maryland and northern virginia's all about the work of marion

barry. [applause] marion never stopped fighting for d.c. statehood, 650,000 people living under occupation. he had to get a budget passed by a people, by a congress hostile to his people. congress governs d.c. without the consent of the govern. but marion never stopped exposing the contradictions. the capitals representing the national legislatures but not washington d.c. d.c. still pays the highest taxes. children are sent to jail more often than those in most states. we've volunteered to serve and plead in the military. we deserve concern. -- he never fought small battles, he always had big dreams. marion was a builder.

accounting contracts, cable contract, radio stations, tv stations, construction contracts, architect churl -- architectural contracts. marion was a builder. remember moses had a stammering tongue, we shouldn't judge him for the eloquence, but for his dependability and production and service and love for the people. and -- [inaudible] carl stokes and coleman young, it was among freedom fighters that became mayors and changed the cultures of those times. marion was a freedom fighter and a long distance runner. listen as you climb, you can together cross the finish line with a resumé, an ad cam indiana and some money and -- campaign and some money. now at a show horse, but as a workhorse. he came across the line with people in it, lifting up the seniors, the poor and those

whose backs were against the wall. he was a hero because he got his scars from his scars. he got his stars from his scars. some didn't volunteer for the team. cowards. political change is a contact sport. some make the team but never come on the field. those on the field have grass stains and blood on their uniforms. no one ever hit a home run or scored a touchdown from the bench or from the stands. but if you play baseball, you get hit with a fastball or a curve sometime, if you play football, you get tackled over and oh again. marion -- over again. marion got bloodied over and over again. he died in office serving. he never stopped fighting back. mayor for life, marion barry -- [inaudible] you had the most young people, that's a jewel. you give the most jobs to those who had been locked out before, and that's a jewel. they gave the most contracts to

those who had been denied them, and that's a jewel. it was hope for the most downtrodden, and that's a jewel. he embraced african culture without shame, and that's a jewel. he visited the most hospitals, and that's a jewel. he visited the most jails, he endured the longest -- [inaudible] that's a jewel. a crown full of jewels. some might say, well, he went to jail. well, so did joseph, but he got out and fed the family. [applause] they got out and -- so did malcolm, and he came out a redeemer. so did dr. king. he wrote a letter and scripted out a new future. jail can be a place to study and think and figure out another way. i hear -- [inaudible] i'm left to die. i have no friends. sometimes you're fighting at night. i see a new heaven, a new earth, and the old one passed away. well, marion, you've got a crown full of jewels. you're still leading, we're

right behind you. we won't be long. we know the righteous judge will welcome you now. no writer matters today, no more pain. criticism doesn't matter now. you can now reconnect with your friends that you had here that most of us never got a chance to meet, so say hello to the people you knew and worked with, say hello to medgar evers. you know him. give a hug to 'em met till who made you cry. [laughter] tell julius hobson we miss him on the marches. tell john mason howdy. tell -- [inaudible] we're still fighting. say hello to bevel and hosea and ralph abernathy, and tell maya angelou we miss her so much. tell them, the old friends, john lewis and julian --

[inaudible] and marion barry and maxine waters and -- [inaudible] right behind them. done given your reports. tell them it's not over. tell them terrorists are shooting us, choking us to death. juries finding no justification, tell them we have a second wind now. tell them we have a brother beloved in the white house, but they call him names and reject his health plan to heal the sick. tell them we have a stand-up attorney general. tell them we made progress, but it's getting mean down here. tell them though we have progress on our backs and the jails overcrowded and neither jail cells nor or graves can hold our bodies down. the resurrection of trayvon martin and michael brown and -- [inaudible] emmitt till and medgar evers, tell them we're still driving on, mayor. tell them we ain't giving up. tell them we're fighting back. tell them banks are robbing the

people, not people robbing the banks. tell them the children, the brand children, the young dreamers are standing up, fighting babb. [applause] tell them there's a young jamal bryan on the way. tell them we're fighting back. tell them some young rappers, some stand-up preachers, some high school and college students and some ball players -- [inaudible] holding up their hands saying, don't shoot. justice now. [applause] then the leaders of muhammad ali still marching, and by the way, tell them we celebrate mrs. parks' birthday this week. and tell them you're at the top of your game again, as you always were. you had the most, you lifted the most, you endured the longest.

somebody has to tell them cora is still fighting for justice. tell them christopher has a business now, they'll be proud to hear this. [applause] tell them rest assured they'll say, well done. the song writer said it best when he said you give the best of your service, he'll say, well done. you never stop talking poor people's talk. you continue to -- [inaudible] tell them you fought the good fight be, and you kept the faith. tell them it's darks but the morning comes. tell them the lord is our light and our salvation. tell them that there's power in the blood. tell them no grave can hold us. tell them when you give the best of your service, tell them that the savior has come. be not dismayed when men do not believe you, because you'll understand the righteous judge will say, well done. tell them misunderstood the savior of sinners.

hung on the cross, he was god's only son, but hear him calling his father in heaven, let not my will, but thine be done. [inaudible] when you failed, this your failings tell them your hands are sore from the work you have been. tell them, pick up your with cross and come quickly to jesus. he'll understand and -- [inaudible] and if my people, love you, marion, will call by my name. see my face and -- [inaudible] god will hear your prayer and forgive your sin, and he'll say, well done. god bless you, man, i'll see you in the morning. love you, marion. love you, marion, love you -- [inaudible] [applause] >> good afternoon. i am pleased to be here with my

esteemed predecessor, mayor sharon pratt, mayor anthony williams -- [applause] and also with the mayor of newark, new jersey. [applause] on behalf of the 660,000 people who live in the district of columbia, i want to once again extend, as others have done, our deepest sympathies to former first lady cora masters barry and, of course, to marion christopher barry who spoke so eloquently when he was up here earlier. [applause] you know, while marion is now ab sent in body -- absent in body, i think we know that he is all

fully present in his spirit in this place today, isn't he, ladies and gentlemen? [applause] though he is no longer with us, we also know how much he contributed to the growth and to the development of his beloved district of columbia. [applause] there are, there are so many marion barry stories, so many instances in which the mayor for life changed someone's life or opened the door of opportunity for a person or for a community. like many other washingtonians, i choose to remember marion barry by remembering his lifelong commitment to building up our city and working to free

from congressionally-imposed shackles the servitude to which we were relegated here in the district of columbia. marion's own story is replete with witnessing injustices here and around the country. he knew well the daunting height of the barriers of advancement and success faced by african-americans in this nation. and he was especially gifted at getting young people involved in creating a new future for themselves and for all of us. when marion barry came to washington in 1965 to work with sncc, he saw a city that in many ways was every bit as segregated as the mississippi of his childhood.

he found a majority black city that was ruled not by its residents, but by a congress in which residents had no voting voice, and he also learned that congress had delegated oversight of this city to his most conservative white southern members. marion barry had found a place where he would make his mark, first as an activist for better relations with police and better job opportunities for african-americans in the city. he stepped up to the plate as a servant leader because there was work to be done. he got elected to the board of education, and then after home rule, such as it was, such as it is was approved for the district of columbia, he was elected to the first popularly-elected d.c.

council. many of us know that in his first term, first term as mayor he achieved some truly remarkable successes. he helped to get the city's chaotic finances under control and helped turn our metropolitan police department into an agency whose officers look so much more like the people of the district of columbia. and, ladies and gentlemen, couldn't a lot of other cities learn that at this stage? is. [applause] he also helped build the district black middle class through a groundbreaking program, a groundbreaking program that required a share of city business to go to black-owned enterprises.

and, of course, he created a widely-acclaimed summer youth employment program. how many people have you heard say i got my first job under marion barry? [cheers and applause] i knew marion barry for years, and there's one anecdote that leaps to to mind, and he and i talked about it often. it was an example of his true character. some may know i once served as the executive director as what was then known as the association for retarded citizens. one of our key goals was to move people with intellectual disabilities from an inhumane institution named forest haven into community living in the district of columbia. [applause]

there was, there was, ladies and gentlemen, fierce opposition in so many neighborhoods to group homes, unfortunately supported by some of the worst myths imaginable. one evening i was with mayor barry in an affluent community where the district was seeking to establish a home. nearly 900 people -- 200 people showed up and packed this room for this meeting, and they only had one purpose. the purpose was to stop this home from opening. once mayor barry had finished his presentation, there was a man who immediately rose and began to pepper him with questions. when it became clear that the man's inquiries had no constructive purpose, marion barry said -- and i quote -- you really don't want the answers,

do you? if you want to talk about how we make this work, i will stay here with you all night. otherwise i have nothing else to say to you. [applause] that was, that was vintage barry. standing up for people who were disadvantaged, people who could not effectively fight for themselves. and by the way, the meeting ended soon thereafter, the home opened and was a huge success because marion barry had stood up for a group of people that could not effectively speak for themselves. [applause] many of us don't get to smell the flowers while we are here on earth. in this last year of his life, mayor barry's book was published, and he was able to to share his story, his thoughts

and his insights with many of us as he appeared at book signings and interviews on television and radio. those who had never heard of marion barry were able to learn more about him and gain insight into the person who was popularly known as mayor for life in the district of columbia. [applause] as longtime supporters and new come orers to the barry story -- newcomers to the barry story swarmed around him, they embraced his journey and worked with him so he could pass the torch of knowledge on to the next generation. marion barry's legacy is intimately woven into the fabric of the district of columbia.

he is still alive in so many ways in the district of columbia today and, ladies and gentlemen, marion barry will always be alive in the district of columbia. [applause] let me end by just saying on behalf of those who are up here, well done, m.b., we love you, and we appreciate everything you've done for all of us in this great city. [applause] >> bless you. >> and coming up live today here on c-span2, we'll take you to downtown washington, d.c. where the president of the world bank, jim young kim, will be outlining the bank's priorities for global climate change. he's also expected to talk about efforts on an international climate change agreement to be presented next year in paris. the council on foreign relations is hosting his remarks, it's

scheduled to begin at 12:15 p.m. eastern time. >> tonight on "the communicators," kim zetter on what she calls the world's first digital weapon, stuxnet, a computer virus used to sabotage rapp's nuclear en-- rapp's nuclear enrichment program. >> first of all, i guess the most unique thing was this was a virus that was designed to physically destroy something. in the past we've seen mall wear -- malware that steals credit card numbers, things like that, but was never designed to essentially leap out of the physical world into the digital realm and have some kind of kinetic activity. other than that, it was really sophisticated. it was, as i mentioned, it's designed to increase and slow the speed of the centrifuges. but while it was doing that, it also did this remarkable trick which was to make the operators at the plant think that the

operations were perfectly normal. so what it did was it recorded normal activity on the computers first, and then it played back that normal activity to the monitoring machines when stuxnet was actually doing the sabotage. >> tonight an eight ian on "the communicators" -- eight eastern on "the communicators" on c-span2. >> and tomorrow a house hearing with the testimony from jonathan gruber who advised the white house and the state of massachusetts on health care insurance programs. he's expected to talk about his public criticism of the obama administration's rollout of the affordable care about. also appearing before the oversight committee, the administrator of the wrg center for medicare and medicaid, marilyn tavenner. also tomorrow at 2:00, secretary of state john kerry scheduled to testify before the senate foreign relations committee about isis and authorization for the use of military force. and a look at capitol hill where

leaders in both parties say they hope to adjourn for the year by thursday. the same day current government funding expires. "the hill" newspaper reports the house appropriations committee plans to release what's being crawled the cromnibus spending bill. homeland security would only be funded through february. if house works on it today, we could see a vote on wednesday at the earliest leaving the senate a short time frame to pass the measure and get it to the president's desk. you can read more at thehill.com. >> here are a few of the comments we've recently received from our viewers. >> i'm in my 80s, and i'm a big fan of c-span. and i want to compliment them on being able to bring together two different ideologies like they did this morning from the cato institute and the immigration

policy center. i think that you need more programming that way among people that can conduct themselves with a very civil tone. and i applaud you for that. ideology can be overcome to reach a common ground, and i think that there should be more programming to that effect. thank you very much for c-span. >> i listen to c-span pretty much on a daily, regular basis. i find it to be very informative, it's a very good look at all of our different politicians so that citizens can understand exactly who we elect and what's being done in congress. because it seems to be that congress is undecided or always fighting, and it's important that the citizens have a nice outlet for them to see the proceedings that go on. so i appreciate c-span. and regardless of whether or not

it's popular with mainstream culture, i just want them to the though that there are young people -- me, i'm 18, and i watch c-span on a regular basis to make sure that i understand what's happening in my country, because i truly do care. thank you. >> american history tour starting with the battle of little bighorn, i just watched it in its entirety. it's priceless. so many peoples of the world do not understand them own selves, but if they watch american history, they can see themselves in america and why we're such a great and wonderful nation of all the peoples of the world. thank you. >> and continue to let us know what you think about the programs you're watching. call us at 202-626-3400, e-mail us at comments@c-span.org or you

can send us a tweet at c-span@comments. join the conversation, like us on facebook, follow us on twitter with. >> next, a look at law enforcement and the use of force hosted by the memorial fund and the national law enforcement museum. just after it was announced that there would be no indictment for the officers involved in the killing of eric garner in new york. panelists also discussed flaws in the justice system, the militarization of local police departments and kiss trust between police -- distrust between police and african-americans. [inaudible conversations] >> ladies and gentlemen, my name is craig floyd, and i want to welcome all of you to the national law enforcement

museum's new series called "conversations on law enforcement." the series focuses on topical law enforcement issues on the minds of many. tonight's conversation is entitled "when police shoot: a dialogue on the use of force." and we're proud to be jointly hosting tonight's event with a new and, hopefully, long-term partner, the memorial foundation, builders of the magnificent martin luther king jr. memorial. want to begin by thanking our event sponsor, target corporation, which has been one of our top supporters over many, many years. several of target's officials have traveled from their headquarters in minneapolis to be with us tonight, and we're very grateful. they're deeply committed to promoting safe communities across the united states, and tonight's discussion is intended to help foster that very important goal. for those of you not familiar

with our organization, the national law enforcement officers memorial fund is, heads up the national law enforcement museum. we're a nonprofit organization formed in 1984. our mission is to tell the story of american law enforcement and make it safer for those who serve. our vision is to inspire all citizens to value law enforcement. in 1991 we established a national monument here in washington tease to honor the service -- washington, d.c. to honor the service and sacrifice of our peace officers. it is located in historic judiciary square. the names of more than 20,000 officers who have sacrificed their lives in law enforcement service are inscribed on the walls of that monument. we're now in the midst of building a national law enforcement museum right across the street from the monument. the museum is intended to help our citizens better understand

and appreciate the vital role of policing in america. with its high-tech interactive exhibits, the museum will allow visitors to walk in the shoes of a police officer and better understand what they do and how and why they do it. one of the major exhibits planned for the museum is a use of force judgment training simulator that allows visitors to experience a virtual situation that involves life-threatening, split-second decisions just like our officers sometimes have to make. in recent months there have been several high profile events involving the use of lethal force by law enforcement professionals. each time the same questions are asked; wasn't there another option, why not shoot to wound rather than kill, why were so many shots fired? tonight we will pose these questions and others to a couple

of veteran law enforcement professionals, and we will examine the impact of police shooting, especially one that ends in death, can have on the community in which it occurs. the u.s. department of justice tells us that among the millions of persons who come in contact with an officer, force is used or threatened by law enforcement hess than 2% -- less than 2% of the time. in fact, the vast majority of police professionals will go their entire career without ever firing their weapon in the line of duty. but to most americans who watch the news and the cop shows and movies, that is not common perception. according to the fbi, 461 people were justifiably killed by law enforcement officers in 2013. all but three by gunfire. some look at those numbers and look at the number of violent offenders confronted by police each year and argue that this

figure shows great restraint. others are mortified that so many lives are taken each year by trained professionals. but no matter what the number, every time an officer is compelled to shoot and kill someone, it is a terrible tragedy for all involved. tonight we will explore the many issues surrounding the use of force by law enforcement, the increased use of body cameras and lethal -- less lethal weaponry by officers will be discussed as will community-oriented policing. but most of all we want to have an open-minded conversation that will lead to a stronger public/private partnership between law enforcement officers and the citizens they serve. now, at this time i am very pleased and proud to introduce my new, good friend, harry johnson, president of the memorial foundation. harry? [applause]

>> thank you so much. good evening. >> good evening. >> what a joy it is for me to stand here on this evening as we talk about, you know, why police shoot. you know, on behalf of the memorial foundation, the builders of the martin luther king memorial, yes, that memorial that graces the mall here in our washington, d.c. where dr. king stands together with the jefferson memorial, the lincoln memorial and, of course, the washington monument. when we built the martin ruth orer king memorial, it was done so that the world would have a place to honor and visit one of our heroes of our great, majestic country. the first memorial to a man of peace, man of color and nonpresident to be situated in such a prominent place, on our national mall, but also in the great pantheon of the other great leaders of our country. we built the memorial not just to recognize the life and legacy of dr. king, but also to

accentuate the four major themes of the memorial. those themes being justice, hope, democracy and love. so tonight how proud we are to be ask partner with craig floyd of the law enforcement museum and target to have a dialogue about when police shoot and a dialogue on the use of force. and, hopefully, bring to the forefront those four tenets of the king memorial, those four tenets, justice, the belief that we all are due justice under the law regardless the color, earth misfor or gender. hope, the belief that we americans have a confident expectation that we can be better, that we can expect better and we can do better for ourselves and more our future. love, a universal doctrine that we all are god's people and that we should love the least, the lost and the left out as much as

we love those who we have within us. and then finally, we understand that ferguson is not an island unto itself, but in reality in every city there is a ferguson commitment. but if we apply the four tenets of the memorial, we will, in fact, make better families, better communities, better cities, better states and, indeed, have a better nation and world. god bless you, and let's get together tonight. i now bring to the podium the one and only mr. jeff johnson, world renowned author, commentator and a good friend of the memorial. jeff johnson, it is your show. >> thank you. >> please, welcome jeff johnson. [applause] >> the check is in the mail. [laughter] i don't know who he was talking about at first. it's an honor and privilege to be here and moderate the discussion. i'm not going to stay at the podium, but i'm going to join our panelists sitting down. but i do want to frame -- i

don't, i don't, i don't think there's ever been a panel that i've moderated that needs less framing in lieu of, i think, what our country is looking at. and many of us have listened on the way over to all of the commentary and the reviewing of what's happening in new york even right now as a grand jury has failed to indict officers in the eric garner killing. and it seems as if there are very sharp lines that have been drawn in communities all over the country. and whether it's in new york or whether it's in ferguson or whether even now in cleveland as city officials and public safety officials are determining what the next steps are as it relates to investigations around a police shooting of 12-year-old tamir rice. the country continues to be forced to deal with something where often there isn't a lot of reasonable conversation.

and so i'm hoping that the conversation that we have tonight will not only be reasonable, but it'll be a conversation that begins to point at best practices that we're seeing in certain parts of the country, potential solutions and even the framework of how those of us that are in this room serve as ambassadors for how we move forward in creating more effective policing practices, the mobilization for more effective policy and greater relationships. if not even talking about how reallow there to be -- we allow there to be a level of engagement that sometimes helps those things come about. as former activist and national youth director of the naacp, we understand that even though some policy works well sometimes, there is an opportunity to see better policy. and sometimes that better policy only comes when there is unrest. but what does that unlook like?

how does -- unrest look like? how does it become effective, and when does it become counterproductive. so i hope we can have an honest discussion. i hope that you all are involved in that honest discussion. as a moderator, i hate panels where you wait until the last five minutes to open up the floor to discussion to the audience. and then you hurry up and try to get 35 questions in two minutes and 16 seconds, which never works. and so my goal is to involve you in the discussion as quickly as we can, because i think we have a more robust and true community conversation when that happens. we have a great panel that is with us, and i'd like to introduce them before i take my seat. to my immediate right or to my immediate left is tom striker. mr. striker is a principal with greenwood striker, formerly the colonel and chief of the cincinnati police department.

experienced, much of which -- a great deal we're going to talk about this evening. in fact, i was the national youth director when there was a great deal of strife in cincinnati over the killing of a young man and protest ensued, and there was a great deal of unrest in the city under colonel striker's leadership. he now travels the country as a consultant engaging communities in best practices, in how to do effective collaborative policy as well as government accountability. please, a round of applause for tom strike or. [applause] tom striker. to his left is cedric alexander who's deputy coo with the office of public safety for dekalb county police. he also has a rich history, prior to that he was working with, as a federal security correcter with tsa -- director with tsa and also has worked with the state of new york. please give him a round of

applause. [applause] and last but certainly not is reverend tom watson. he is the chief minister -- that means pastor -- [laughter] of watson memorial training ministry in new orleans, louisiana, is a activist and manifests the prophetic word for those of you that done know what that means. he operates in speaking the word so that we can move and engage in communities. he comes from, i think, a legacy of men and women of god that understand that we can't afford to be apolitical. but it is necessary for churches to engage in the communities that they exist in, that they help bring about the change that's necessary. please give him a round of applause. [applause] so if i can join you all.

mr. striker, i'd hike to start with you. >> okay. >> and i think that there's so many directions that we can go in with this conversation, and the first one when we with start talking about why do police shoot, why do officers shoot. talk a little bit about, for those in the audience that don't understand, what training do your officers and, by and large, can we assume that officers receive as it relates to the use of force and the discharge of their weapons in particular? >> well, there's a lot of different training, an enormous amount of training that goes into this, and it's not something specific to use of force only. agencies that do it properly actually teach decision making, and that's something that has to be woven through the very fabric of all of of the training that all of their officers receive.

so i have to make a decision about whether or not i'm going to approach you. is it based on constitutional grounds? am i here just to greet you and introduce myself? am i here for an official reason? is it an unofficial reason? what's the reason and/or the context of this stop, if you will, and is it a stop? are you free to leave if i walk up to you? do i have a reason to hold you here? these are the things we have to look at going all the way back before the actual use of force occurs. if it's a shots fired issue, we have to examine this and teach officers how to make decisions in context of their position as a police officer, a public official if you will with an enormous amount of authority and power. in fact, i would say to you an amount of authority and power that no one else in the united states has. no one has more than a police officer has, not even the president of the united states. that's a frightening thought on one hand. and on the other hand, it's something that we all know and understand that we need in this

nation if we're go -- if we're to protect the rights and liberties of everyone. so we've got this group of people with this enormous amount of authority and power that have to be able to make decisions from the very beginning of a stop, the context of that stop all the way through to the point where there is interaction between the officer and a person and if that interaction goes awry, how does that officer make that decision? it's not just, oh, boy, something happened, i get to use force now. there actually has to be a decision making process that unfolds very quickly. one of our hosts said it very aptly in the beginning that this is something that can happen in a split second, so that decision has to be made, and then the decision about what type of force and the actual force that's used and then afterwards what's the review process? how do we learn from these incidents? do we just say, okay, this is justified or not justified, or do we actually go back and look at these situations, take a look

at what happened -- because they don't happen in a vacuum. these incidents happen over and over. we have to be able to extract from these incidents exactly what occurred, what lessons are thered, how can we apply the training to help make that process in the future so hopefully we can alleviate the need for an officer to have to use force and is come to a reasonable conclusion without using force. that should be the ultimate goal of any police agency, hence, any police officer. >> alexander, let me build on that a little bit because what i find interesting is i want to stay with this training thread a little bit before we go on to some other parts of the conversation. because as someone who's trained people, i understand that through a training process i realize that there are certain people that i am training that don't necessarily have the skill sets necessary to do what it is i'm training them to do. how often do we find in these types of trainings through

assessment processes that these people that as mr. striker says have probably more responsibility than almost anybody in the job that they do, that they just don't have the decision making skills necessary? do we find within police trainings that there are those that are assessed to say, wait a minute, you really don't possess the decision making skills possible, necessary to be in those life and death situations, those serious situations. and as a result, we don't see you -- you don't pass the training course, you don't make it through the academy. is that a litmus for success or failure in the academy? is it a litmus for the ability to remain on the street? and if not, should it be? >> well, let me say this. when we think about, when we think about police training and we send a young man or young woman through six months of a police academy, on average --

that's what it is in this country, on average about six months -- and when you think about that, there's a piece of their training that requires self-defense tactics and firearm tactics if you will. if i start a class today of 30 men and women who have applied to become police officers, there's background checks and all that that goes along with it. so after an extensive background investigation, prior history, driving arrests, whatever the case may happen to be, it's a pretty extensive background investigation. so we get a person who is now in a class of 30 or 40 police officers. and that's probably after we have gone through, believe this or not, probably up to about a thousand applications. and we're quite sure chief striker saw this as well too. so you have 40 positions that are open. you open it up, you have a

thousand people to apply. and when the process is over with, you may end up with 30 or 40 candidates for police academy. so it's a pretty rigorous search, investigative or background process. so you bring these women, men and women into an academy program, and you teach them law, state law, constitutional law, self-defense, firearms, all of that. throughout that process somewhere in there you're probably going to lose anywhere between 10-20% of that 30 or 40, through attrition, one reason or another, failure at firearms, failure of some exam or something, those are just decide this is not for me. so at the end of the day you may have 24 or 25 of those candidates to yacht from your academy, and you send them off to a field training process, and

once you complete that, he or she generally in many cities across the country are assigned to go out on patrol. and you have trained them by state standards. not by my standards, but by state standards. and those standards are generally pretty high. and throughout the course of their career, i have seen a young man or woman, police officer, who within the first week on the job may become engaged in a fire fight or engaged in a shooting. and i've seen people do 35 years and never had to draw their weapon. so you have this, you have training two, three times a year, our firearms qualification at many departments which is not required by me, but is required by the state. and they complete firearm training. but the complicated part of all of this is that what is very unique -- and chief striker alluded to this -- what is very

unique about policing, you can start off the morning going to a cat in a tree e call, and you can end up that evening dead. or you've had to use deadly force. and most men and women in this profession who leave home every day hope more than anything else -- and i've been in this for 37 years now -- most folks that i have come in contact with and i've come in contact with thousands over my career, they don't leave home every day to do harm to anyone. but often times because of the nature of the job itself, the up predictability of it, you could find yourself in a shooting. and it is that moment in time. and in each incident that occurs, they all are so different. and that's what makes it really, really complicated because there's so many variables, jeff, that go into the time that the moment you pull that trigger. but do we train?

yes. but here's, here is the question actually going forward. my question is this, in light of everything that's happening, are we training enough? and are we training young men and women as well, too, to be critical thinkers? because with i think that's the real key here. because you're going to have to make split-second decisions. but often times before you have to make that split second decision, there are other decisions that can be made. and when those opportunities present themselves, am i trained well enough, have i seen enough scenarios as best as we can provide, opportunities for men and women out there, the police officers? if they have to make a decision and those are in the moment kind of decisions, can we train them better? and i truly believe that we can. >> and i think that's a great point. reverend, i want to get to you, but i want to build on something

that you said, and part of that is even if you've had all the training in the world, there are still perceptions that officers bring into situations similar to what we all bring into situations. >> uh-huh. >> and those perceptions help drive that decision making. ask so how are police departments -- and so how are police departments, and i know you'd only speak to your experience, how are police departments dealing with the undeniable biases that officers as people bring into policing? >> you know, i think part of what's going to half to happen is that i think in the recruitment process, i think we're going to have to find -- in recruiting police officers, it's a very tough job, by the way. everybody who wants to be a police officer, here, again, a thousand applicants, you only end up with 30 or 40. there's something to be said about that, right. >> and you train them to a standard. but here is what i know, and

i've been saying this for some years now. we're going to have to train our men and women in our academies to think differently about the job as well too. because when you really think about it, this job is really 80% public relations and 20% everything else. it's not 80% running after bad guys -- >> and i want to get to that, but i don't want you -- i want you to stay right there for a second -- blah yeah. >> -- and deal with police departments currently deal with the biases that we as individuals have in the officers -- >> no, no. >> whether in the training academy or with officers that are currently in the ranks? >> no. no, they don't. because here's the thing, and it's funny, i just had in this conversation today. we all come with biases. you and i do too. >> yes. >> and they may be not around race, they could be around gender, it could be around sexual orientation, it could be

around religion, it could be around a number of variables. the important piece is i think that what we have to do in our training academies that we have not been doing, jeff, is that we've got to bring into those classrooms, into those scenarios and each part of the selection process opportunities for us to begin to confront our biases. because unless that's a part of the curriculum or the training, i'm not going to move past that. because the stairly part is it's not the guy who's consciously racist or sexist. the guy who frightens me is the one who's most unconscious of it. and it comes out and acts out -- >> well, both scare me. [laughter] especially when you've got a badge on. >> but i think you understand the point i'm making. >> i do. and i hope you understand the point i'm making. >> i'm not going to get into a tug-of-war -- >> oh, we won't, because i'm the moderator of. [laughter] >> we're saying the same thing. >> i'm in a unique position where, for once, i've got more

power than you. [laughter] and i agree with you. but i think it is important to make sure that we deal with the tact that those who are overtly racist are equally as scary when in many cases those that are overtly races, those that carry overt isms are policing communities of people who those isms look like. >> request right. >> so, chief striker, can we accept the fact that we do have problems when the decision making and whether it's excessive force, whether it's processing threat is affected by those isms, but we don't have departments dealing with it? ..

where people hold so much power and authority. i used to think training, and i still believe that training is a big aspect of it but to does the training and what is the training is more critical. what about this room? how many people in this room have something to offer training? to police agencies training in a vacuum or do they train with the community? do they bring humanity people and to address police officers, the new recruits were so great that has 40 years experience in policing, 30 '04 years experience in policing that can really learn from having a true dialogue with people about that 800-pound gorilla?

i can tell you in 2001 in cincinnati where we're sitting, fat happy and lazy that things are going along good, everything seemingly fine. suddenly we've got an incident where an officer shoots and kills a young man, lied about shooting and killing the young man, exactly what occurred. the next thing you know we are headlines on cnn, we're headlines around the world. here's the city of racism. here's riots in the city. how can it be? two days ago we are fat happy and lazy. now we are confronting an issue. people do not want to confront this because it's uncomfortable. >> the solution here and one of the solutions we found in the aftermath of that in our dealings with the kennedy was that the relationships that we have in our community that we thought were very good and very powerful, we found out and came to realize they were superficial relationships. we didn't have a true relationship with our community.

this is something we found takes real work, take secretary moniz amount of effort. geek out have a lot of thick skin, especially if you're in the position that perhaps is in the crosshairs, if you will, the police. you have to be able to listen to what people have to say i know and understand that these are just excuses people are throwing out there like i feel like that the police have advised against the because of my race, because my gender, because of my sexual orientation. that's just what you think, that's just an excuse. around is these are not excuses and people truly believe, whether or not it's true it doesn't matter. there's a perception out there that exist and that something that requires constant vigilance, not just by a police agency but more so, in fact, by an entire community. look at the reaction we have around this country from a single incident. think about how powerful that incident is. i used to say the same thing in

cincinnati. the actions of one police officer brought the attention of the entire world, the entire world to our city. the entire world. look what it's done here in incidents since then. and look at how social media has changed the way we address the situations and the way we have to pay attention to them. no longer can we say right or wrong and walk away from a. we have to address these situations. the world has to change and would policing has to move in that same direction. >> reverend watson, i appreciate the comments because there's a couple of things. i remember, i grew up in cleveland. my father lived -- >> we beat the browns by the way. nevermind, the browns beat us. >> let's not even go there. [laughter] but my dad lived in cincinnati at the time and i think there was a huge dichotomy between, because the cincinnati police department was an award-winning police department.

the citizens of cincinnati in certain communities would've said quite the opposite. and so i think there's always truth and misperception on both sides. in new orleans, it had a ton of controversy as relates to the police department before and after katrina, as relates to levels of brutality, levels of misconduct, so when and so forth. how have you found effective ways to bridge that gap that mr. streicher is talking about? almost sometimes a vintage our police department's tuesday listen to the things you're not listening to, and then help committee members understand what real policing looks like. whether they like it or not. how do you help find that balance, and have you seen success with that, whether it's in new orleans were some of the other places i know you've been working? >> i can't measure any actual success but i can say that through our not-for-profit,

annually we put on a summit called the summit on the plight of the african-american male. in the summit we have taken different approaches to engaging the committee at large, government, political officials and particularly law enforcement from the u.s. attorney to everyday cops and the likely. one of the things that we realize is that new orleans, like many communities come is the tale of two cities. we have those who function well and don't have any issues with police harassment and the like, biases and the like, but then there's those even like myself, i'm a native, but as you say, every day the cops go out, they wonder if they will survive getting home. as an african-american male, i feel that way sometimes. often i feel haunted. so that's a personal kind of thing i would hope i'm not stopped by the police or something silly and ends up in another direction.

collectively, collaboratively what we've done is engaged levels of government, mayors office, city council, state reps, state centers and the like, even our congressmen and our second congressional district, cedric richmond, and faith leaders, everyday grassroots leaders, and our mantra is to say that the connect is going to happen, the trust is going to happen between police and community. it must be bottom up. it cannot be top down. it cannot be the mayor. it cannot be the governor. it cannot be elected officials getting a mandate on how to fix this. what we've done over the years, and i've a report i brought with me i don't mind sharing with the audience and it's appropriate on how we brought together law enforcement, community leaders, everyday leaders to shutout and the dialogue together in think

tanks that go on for 40 hours so to speak. and a couple of days, we do not consistently 48 hours. but the point i'm making is that it's a matter of connecting those voices that are never heard, the ones that are now protesting and screaming and hollering, somewhat politically engaged to bring them together to this kind of dialogue. but he on the dialogue, putting some reasonable, productive moments together takeaways that we can work on with police. let me give you one example if you don't mind. in 1994, new orleans had about 400,000 citizens. that's a course before katrina. but we were called and still get called the murder capital of the world, if you will. that's based on the per capita population. in 1994 we had over 420 murders on the streets.

where my then storefront church where i started ou out in the fortune i was able to a little bit beyond that to a church front, and so, and now, but at the storefront level we were in a neighborhood near a major housing development. what our church did and our non-profit, we didn't protest on city hall. it was peaceful come for jobs. we did as a result, we sat down with the committee leaders, with the chief of police, with our elected officials and faith leaders and community leaders, and we were able to, through the police department had a local city government, ring a police substation right in the neighborhood to begin to build trust between police, between community leaders, between everyday citizens. my point is that we have engaged the committee at the grassroots level to connect to the police department. it's not an easy task but it is

one worth doing. and again, beyond the protest you have to have some measurable ways that you going to work through these processes so that you're in it for the long haul. it's easy to protest budget cuts have some long and short-term goals to bring connections together between police and community and neighborhood. >> let me ask you this, any of the three of you can answer this. but chief streicher said something interesting that said look at what this isolated incident has done around the country. i understood the point that was being made, but i think the folks in ferguson, the folks who are now protesting in new york, those that were on the highway in los angeles and oakland, those that were in other cities don't view this as an isolated incident at all. >> i know i don't. >> so it's incident connected incident connected incident connected incident.

what often happens when these discussions take place is there seems to be a very defensive nature taken by law enforcement. that defensive nature in some cases because there are legal issues at hand, and you're dealing with a specific incident that will result in an indictment or a non-indictment. sometimes supersede the even larger disconnect of the community from the police department. we your people talk about only 2% of interaction between the police indian shootings, that's still too many. if we know that to be too many, and we also see time after time after time, again i'm sorry for such a long set up for the question, we see police officers not being indicted. we see processes that we find that we don't feel like prosecutors are doing their job. we feel like there's grand

juries that haven't been given the right information. we feel like the system doesn't work for us in certain communities. how have you seen us deal with those realities and those conversations? i just don't feel like communities are prepared to hear lipservice in the name of creating relationship if we are not dealing with some of those real issues of why does it feel like officers seldom get held accountable for shooting black kids? >> it's not isolated. in new orleans, just google it. we are under a police consent decree but if you google what's happening in new orleans, we have been notorious. it's never been isolated come in my lifetime, from choking a civilian to shooting. after katrina, for instance, henry glover, if you google his name, he was not only shot as an

unarmed citizen trying to survive after the storm, but his body was burned, shot and burned. of the five or so officers, i believe there are three now through appeals, the one officer that shot him is off on appeal. the officer that burned him is doing 17 years, but still going through the appeal. how do you think we d feel in tt community? here is an unarmed man burned and shot. so for new orleans it's never isolated. and again i believe they can get better. you mentioned the training. the cultural sensitivity that's necessary come in here we have a population that's over 60% african-american. we have a new police chief know who is african-american, and i believe he is trying real hard

to begin to mend some of the fences, but it's never isolated in my community. i believe, i believe the biggest crises coupled with training is one of credible leadership. when that leader of the police department and that mayor who hires him can be trusted and that they are transparent, and we are people a feeling. you can feel that you can trust what they are saying. then things begin to get a little bit better. but at points in new orleans, post-and pre-hurricane katrina, it's never been an isolated incident. i mean, there's no easy answer to this. i led by prince will where there's no confrontation, there's no resolution. we have to continue to confront the issues, collectively and beyond the protesting and have that kind of purposeful intervention and prevention of initiatives that can begin to

turn some of those around spent i don't disagree tha with that t all i want to codify something. my point was not to say that an isolated incident, this only happens once in a while. my point was that this issue, the issue of mistrust, the issue of discord between police agencies and some segments of our community is so enormous and has been in place for so long that his finger inserted can set something off like this, and has worldwide effects. that tells me this is at a critical point in history of america. there are no two ways about it. >> i want to chime in. stop there because i think even call it a singular incident in many cases creates -- >> i understand that. that's what i want to clarify it. i'm not isolating anything at all. but certainly they would expect it in ferguson, missouri? >> the people of ferguson.

>> exactly, but with the rest of the world expected in ferguson, missouri? i think that shows the enormity of this issue. most people probably didn't even know there was a ferguson, missouri. and if they did know it, where was workers in missouri. who knew where sanford, florida, was? we would like to think people knew where cincinnati was. that question needs to be asked here, argue that comfortable in your committee believe this is something that will happen somewhere else, it won't happen your? if that's the case then you probably don't belong to be in a position of power or authority. you probably need to get out of the way and let somebody else move in and realize this is something that dramatically affect each and every one of us as americans. there are no two ways about it. >> this will continue to be a coveted situation and kill as a nation we start talking about race. because of the backdrop of all this, we are talking about is raise. all of this stems from there. if you look at police in this

country and put it in a historical context, what we're talking about tonight have been going on since the beginning of policing. those names of people who have illegally lost their lives to police officers, we haven't forgotten them, but we remember those we're talking about today. there were those before i was born, before you were born who died at the hands of police, sometimes even more violently, right? so this is a long-standing issue and this them in this country, and particularly with communities of color. so when you start something you said very early on, jeff, was the whole perception peace. some of this is perception. some of it is reality. it all depends on where you stand or wher wasted in america. a lot of this a lot of people really. so there is this, there is of this history there are these

legacies. you are these stories that have been told from generation to generation about policing. so when policing will became integrated, more integrated than what it is now 40, 50 years ago, we still have the same problems in large cities in this country. but part of the issue is the training, yes, but it's also a leadership void in a lot of these departments because you have to set an expectation to the men and women that work for you. you trained him well, but you also have expectations. but you cannot predict if you got 12, 13 of the people that work for you, like i did, i can't promise anybody that nobody's going to go out tonight and do something foolish. hopefully they don't or won't, but we can't guarantee that. we have to have policies and, and those employees must know what the philosophy of their

chief is a with expectations when it comes to the treatment of people, all people. >> i don't think any citizen is looking for police leadership to say that they can promise that offers won't do anything. i think what they're looking for is to know that accountability will come to that office in the event that something does, and that they don't feel like officers will be able to hide behind the blue shield before they are forced into a level of accountability. >> the reason that exists is because there is this community called policing and then and there's this community in which they serve. what you have over here is our fraternity, an organization called police where people take care of each other. they go out and they confront dangerous things every day. it builds a relationship. it builds camaraderie like no other like being in the military. you to depend on each other to get home again that the shift much shift much of the committee over here. if they don't feel connected to you, did who i was about my biggest backup was going to be

when i got in trouble? not when i got on the radio and called for help, but if a citizen saw me get my butt kicked, that citizen would come help me out. because they're going to see it and get to me first. what if i have a relationship with them, that will happen. what happened in ferguson, missouri, and i know this because i was there a week after it occurred to i sat down and talked to the chief as president of noble. from the time of the shooting on august 9 until i got there, they had never met with the community. a week later, and when i got to town i said, look, chief, let's meet with some committee leaders. he rounded some folks up but they've never met with the committee. post that shooting, now that's evidence of a team unity and a police department that is totally disconnected. let me take another significant piece and then i will stop. that they that shooting, yet

remember that's a small town, 22000 people. 55 police officers. whether they're black or white, 55 police officers. that's all. all of those police officers are not on the street. maybe 30 of them are in uniform patrol on a 24 hour basis, right? how is it, i should've virtually everybody in that community of 24,000. when that shooting took place no one in that community was able to name who the officer was. and how many people did we see out on the scene, and how long did darren wilson stand out there on that seeing? but the question we all went for weeks without knowing his name. in community oriented policing, if that was you, mr. streicher they would've said that was alexander or that was streicher or communicable the tall office that comes through here all the time. something. they couldn't even relate to who

it was. so that's a total disconnect, even in a situation in -- >> and that's not new. so how should, or how d.c. police departments dealing with the fact that it's a whole lot harder to shoot somebody you know? it's a lot harder to shoot somebody, and you are able with the decision making peace to have a better sense of who's a threat and who's not a threat when you know the people in the community. i've talked to folks with committee policing programs when police officers know, this kid is a baby. he might be six feet tall at 13, but he's not going to hurt anybody. this kid is for 3'" and he is the killer. i know this because i know the committee. at what point do we stop saying that over and over again? is either community policing become a fabric of local police or do we understand that when you have percentages of officers

that live in the communities, those officers have a different perception of policing my community versus occupying their community. >> there's not a singular answer for the. this is a multifaceted issue but i will say one thing that you did give part of the answer your so. you said when a police agency has a community policing program, that's a problem. is it a program where those six officers over there, do community policing and the rest of us do real policing? or is it a philosophy? a philosophy that is woven through the agency. this is how we function. this is how they operate. you are part of that community that you serve. you are not an independent warrior sent him there to try to keep the peace to you are part of that community that you serve. you become part of it. that has to be mandated everywhere from the chief all the way to the agency so that when the reverend walks out into

an issue that has occurred and the police shows up, the reverend can look at him and say,, let me explain what is going on. that's how it should be. >> and that becomes part of police culture and also becomes a part of your evaluation process as well. as much as what i want to know what your score was when you were to the range to shoot, i want to know which relationship is with people in the community. there's a dual responsibility. the other part is also community being able to engage with their police as well. they don't always have to agree but which have to be able to do is always be able to indicate and have contact with each other. something is going to go awry just by the mere nature of that job. something's going to happen that they will not agree on. but if they are able to sit down and communicate because they have relationships, it makes it better spent why does it feel,

this is from someone on the outside looking in, that police leadership are looking at two options. a secure tolerance option for committee policing option. >> i don't believe in zero -- >> but i think if you're looking across the country it almost seems as if the moment that there's a spike in crime, that the response is zero tolerance. and in many cases you can have zero tolerance and the committee policing at the same time. why does it seem, against the perception, from the outside looking in that we see political pressure to have zero tolerance versus political pressure to have immunity policing? >> because i may have a mayor that i work for summer and the united states of america who's got an emerging the crime rate and he or she needs to get reelected. that's a reality of a piece of it as well. here's another piece where to be

aware. when you start talking about police living in communities or in those cities, ideally that's a great but in many cities and in many communities across this country we have police unions that are very strong and very powerful. they push back very strongly on that. so it's not just police oftentimes. it is also other entities that may influence whether it's elected officials, police unions, et cetera. i think one of the most important things that can happen, and chief streicher spoke to this and is developing a philosophy in policing where that becomes a part of that culture. we are going to see change in policing. i am totally convinced of that. it's going to happen pretty fast in this country. i truly believe that because we are at a place right now in light of everything that has happened and is continuing to

happen, there is going to be change that's going to take effect. i think the president had a think the attorney general are positioning us for change. the we still have to fight and d because we didn't get here overnight. but the most important thing here, jeff, is for us as security, an entire community, one thing when we got to have, we've got to public safety. police ain't going away and neither our communities. >> i want to open floor to you all after these last two quick questions, quick answers because of these are easy. when you talk about getting to that place, there's a slogan that stone read over and over again which is no justice, no peace. sometimes that's a slogan but more and more its seeming to be the case.

and if there is a perception that there's a lack of justice -- let me ask this point like. if you look at the majority of the cases over the last 10 years that have involved police shootings and would understand that in many cases there have been few indictments that have come from local judges or state judges. in many cases when there was an indictment, it ended up being federal investigations that came in and overturned rulings that had already been made by local judges. are we saying in your estimation that most of those police shootings were justified? or can we acknowledge that in many cases there is a flawed process by way of a grand jury, that in many cases there are incestuous relationships between

prosecutors and police and that we need to provide local communities with more options than judges or grand juries, that includes civilian review, special prosecutors, as the room versus the exception? >> great question. no simple answer. it's convoluted and it's complicated. no question about it because we're talking about perception. the reason people don't buy a decision in ferguson, the reason they don't buy it, the reason for this is the way it is, that whole region is the way is because people cannot trust the criminal justice system. not just police but they don't trust the court. they don't trust the judges. they don't trust the da and they don't even trust their governor. because that has been their daily experience in that community. i'm going to tell you, those people have been horribly mistreated by the criminal justice community in ferguson. there's no question about it.

and i don't need to be biased about. this is not about black or white this is just what has been wrongly done in that community. michael brown was just the tipping point to what's going on. that's all he was. he was the tipping point. it was coming eventually but it happened on his time on this earth. the problem is, if you remember a few weeks later next door in st. louis, a robber fires three shots at a police officer. the police officer returned fire and killed him. you can't get any more justifiable than that. the problem and the outrage of that kennedy was, the police must have thrown down a gun on the ground because that just continues to speak -- because these people are not irrational or illogical. they are as smart as anybody else and they support police just as much as anybody else,

but the fact that there was just absolute no trust in their whole criminal justice system, that speaks volumes. >> it's not just perception. if we are honest, in the same time span, police responded to a situation where a young man -- >> the one with the knife spinning different than what was in the video. within 60 seconds of the police pulling up, that young man was shot. wasn't lunging towards them, despite the fact that's what was said. are some perception issue but there is some reality issues. i still want to do with the accountability peace. how do citizens feel comfortable when in many cases the only options provided in certain cases are a grand jury or a judge, neither of which they trust, and there's not a rule that said versus the exception that a special prosecutor come in during certain situations,

they would be civilian review. how do we manage that? in the places where there is civilian review, do we see more effective accountability of officers at? >> i would offer to you this, that could a special prosecutor coming in that doesn't have the incestuous relationship make a difference? maybe, maybe not. cincinnati, a new special prosecutor was brought in to prosecute officers shot and killed a man and lied about it. he did a very poor job in my estimation. i was a witness to this officer admitting he lied. i wasn't even come his police chief was never called as a witness in the trial. how do you excuse that? the officer was found not guilty and moves onto a server of an agency and is hailed as an exceptional police officer. yet in his background yes the same findings of dishonesty about shooting and killing someone. how do we explain this? i don't think we have an explanation for the. i do say this, there was one way

we proved an officer had lied in that situation as we started to put -- and cameras in our cars at that time. we'll have been in about 15 cars. one car was out in that entire e section of this event night that had to dash mounted camera. what's the chance that that car went through that intersection that was not directly involved in the incident and recorded the entire incident? what's the chance of that? can we win the lottery tonight maybe if we pool our money? guess what happened. that one car with one camera drove through that intersection at that exact point, exact millisecond when officer pulled the trigger and fired the weapon. that's how we were able to stand there and say that this officer is line. but the officers the story without that technology, the officers story is justifying the incident because the officer

gave a convoluted statement that make it justifiable for him to have fired his weapon at that point killing that young man. but as a police chief knowing that i have an officer was not truthful without the technology, i could not have said that we've got a dishonest police officer. that's not what occurred. so my point here is technology can help this in the future. we do have body mounted cameras. i see people walking around with her just a guess what. if i'm training an an officer, m getting an officer, talking to you to keep my strong hand, my gunsight away from you. where's my camera pointing. my camera is pointed there. i'm talking to you do. i'm getting a recording of that the screen while my decision-making is based on what your actions are. we have to not only have this technology, these cameras, but we need to require officers to wear them headmounted so that camera is recording most closely

what i'm looking at. not when i lay out on the ground. i don't want a picture of the darker i want a picture with the officer is doing. that's what we need to have. we need to own to put cameras on officers but we need to make a officer, require officers to wear them so we are most closely recording exactly what that officer is looking at, so the officer has a very clear opportunity to explain what he or she did and why he or she did it. those are the two critical questions that always have to be answered, and then as quickly as possible that information needs to be disseminated to the community so the community can understand what the police do and why they do it. very much like what you talk to in the beginning here and what these two gentlemen have talked about. >> don't turn the camera off. >> exactly. >> that happened in new orleans. >> reverend, let's be honest and even when the camera is on i think our people right now in new york who would say we had

the video. they would say that they're still a perception between what's excessive force and what's not. so what information grand juries are different and that prosecutors are connected to have that is given. i think there could even be debate amongst the audience right now about was the force used against eric garner excessive force or not? it would be members of the law enforcement community who would say no, it's not that would be members who would say it is. it would be citizens who say it doesn't but the video was there. even women have the technology there's still our perception issues, there still is what is the bar to prove excessive force was used. there's a process by which evidence is presented. all of those are flawed in certain parts of our country that we have to do with it what i want to do because that alone could be a discussion is the gentlemen who are helping me with the mic, if you all would stand at the bottom of the

stairwell, and if you have a question, if you would begin to get in line so we don't have to have them running around suing get as many questions as possible, that would be brilliant. as you all are getting in line to ask your questions, i'd like to ask the reverend, because there are two sides to this. i think that we have admitted that there are issues of policy, issues of training competent also a community site of this. so what are we saying to citizens is what we safety and people in particular about how to engage police officers and how to know your rights and how to behave in a way that even if an officer is wrong, you can walk away from an incident without a police officer using force or pulling the gun? what are you seeing as effective ways to communicate to citizens even in the face of bad law enforcement of how to walk away from a situation, and in the case of good law enforcement how

we are working with them to your effective. >> that's a powerful piece because it goes back to training, and the training is definitely necessary at different levels beyond basic training. i guess you go through basic and then you on your way. but jeff an audience, i believe the training also has to be community training. and that is there are pockets in our community that he think would be open and accessible to understanding some of those dynamics you just mentioned. how do you do with dialoguing with police? how do you build trust? how are you sensitive in your day-to-day operation with a police officer when he pulled you over? you talked about ferguson for a moment. my understanding, i'm not sure if this is accurate, that the officer told the young man,

brown and his partner to get on the sidewalk or something. may be that kind of dialogue, if it would've taken place properly, maybe we would not be talking about ferguson. i don't know. it's water under the bridge now. but i think training, sensitivity training, curriculums. for instance, with our young people at one of our programs called project restore. with a curriculum that is well-known called thinking for a change. how to critically think cognitively about what she did and how you do it. notches with police but with life. in terms of everyday living. and so i just think that communities around the nation now are wide open to come you mentioned that i don't know if you're being prophetic, cedric, that something coming down the pike is going to bring but this has to change. maybe it's something that we

don't know about, and i'm not trying to pull it out, jeff is the moderator, but that struck me for a moment. what does that mean for the community? i understand what it means generally for law enforcement, that from the president to the u.s. attorney and the like, turning to light, that we're going to have some sweeping changes but what does that mean for the community? how do we ensure, jeff an audience, that at the local level that neighborhood level, that there is leadership built up and trained ready to go, ready to understand, here are ways we can build better relationships with our law enforcement. even in high schools and elementary schools. >> we've got to be honest a lot of this stuff is not new. it's a new press conference but we all know the deal. j. has had money the last three or four years to talk about these coalitions to reduce

violence and now that is connected to the police department. there's been community policing dollars at the federal level for quite sometime but there has to be a will almost leadership at the local level to make it work. i want to make sure we get to these questions. as we do that there are rules here the first rule is, ask a question. second rule, ask a question. and the third rule is ask a question. we all know that every passionate we proved everybody who came in the room is brilliant so you don't have to prove it. you have 30 seconds to send the question to which time i will ask to ask the question to and if you can, directed one of our painless. that would be fantastic so we can get through as many questions as possible. >> please don't hold the mic. it's proven when you hold the mic you talk 30% longer than you would i if you didn't have the c

in your hand. [laughter] >> kind of cool. i want to ask the panelists, anyone of you can take this, probably the chief can take this. the issue of the militarization of the police force, vis-à-vis the confusion of resources into communities that are underserved. the perception is that there's money for militarization of the police but there's no money for education, for jobs and for community development. >> how do we deal with, never one because i think the question, a lot of those materials come from the federal government wars, everywhere else. how do we balance, the reference point, those resources coming but other resources not coming? >> i think that's a question be

on the chiefs here because that is surplus military equipment that we didn't buy, police departments. the other thing is every police department don't have this military equipment by the way. but agencies that do have it, they have been given it so part of what you are going to see happen, part of this change with this is that this going to be accountability attached to it. the president has talked about this. this nature is just not going to be shipped out to you from the department of defense. it has to go through a process. you have to show cause, yet to show training, and you cannot use it in civil disturbances such as what was on ferguson. that won't the allowed in that sense anymore. so i think we're going to see some sweeping changes there. that is nothing that chiefs across the country quite frankly are funded to do. that is just equipment that is been given to them if they choose to have a. i think the way that's been in

the past has been totally wrong. you just can't take this equipment say hey, give it to a local police agency and they do whatever they want to do with it without some training and without some policies being written as to when you utilize this equipment. >> you talked about that not being able to happen anymore but there is not any policy in place right now this is police department will be held accountable for using that equipment improperly, correct? >> that's right. there's nothing in place right now. i think the chief would agree with me on this, if there's a police agency out there now that has that equipment and misuses the way they did in ferguson, they would be absolutely insane. >> i think i there would be some people who admit, who may do that. >> but it won't be in dekalb county. >> and i both know, that's what do you and i both know that insane is the perception.

>> that's right. >> there are please departments that can justify the use of that equipment based on situations that are happening. and so what currently is the litmus? or is it just based on department by department and when that equipment is, what situation has to exist for that equipment to be used? >> police agencies all ruled by local governments so they're all localized and, therefore, their individualized. i think the preeminent thought was that officers or agencies would have equippage, and i think cedric will agree with me, have the equipment for extraordinary situations. we have a sniper someplace that's hurting people and we need to get close to that person come into the building to get in there and neutralize that threat so our communities safe again. these are the types of situations i think that were visualized. i don't believe that they were

intended for everyday use come and i think that agencies to use the equipment responsibly don't use it for everyday use. >> and also a misstep on the part of the federal government cannot have more stringent guidelines and say here's specifically want, because you're handing a real heavy weapons. >> 2020 we can say that. there's something different perhaps should have been done but it wasn't. more a message which were have had commonsense but let's face it, communities need to help make these decisions for agencies. if the agency does not allow the community to help them make that decision, they're operating in a vacuum and they're destined to fail. they would probably be the next agency in the headlines. >> my question is, why do i look threatening a just as i am standing here leaning on something? i had occasion to have my dispatcher call the police because i noticed a break-in at

3 a.m. at a gas station. the police showed up. they asked me to wait for them. the police showed up. i'm standing just like i am right here, well lit come in a well lit tab, and the officer that showed up slid into the parking lot, got his shotgun out and leveled it at me. now, had i moved i'm not so sure i could tell you this story. when i was a little boy they taught me not to point a gun at somebody unless you're going to shoot at him. i would like to know, my question is, why don't please receive that training? >> i can't tell you that police don't receive the training and i can't speak for the officer, why he or she functioned or perform their duty the way they did that night. listening to it from your perspective it doesn't sound like a reasonable response. but i don't know what information the officer had to make that decision. i would offer you this. if it ever happens again and you do have the courage to call the police again, you know, here's

who i am, here's were i'm standing, here's what i'm wearing. i'm going to keep the phone open, assuming you're on a cell phone. most people are now. i'm on the phone. please tell whoever is as bonnie i'm the good guy, on the witness. i'm not the perpetrator. it's difficult and people asked this all the time of police chiefs, why did this -- i had this happened, why did it happen? i can only ask the officer what he or she was thinking at the time. they may have a rational, a reasonable response. then again they may not. i doubt they could ever have a response that's reasonable enough to satisfy you. they could me if it was me in that situation, i can guarantee you. a difficult situation. >> did you report the officer? >> i did not. i was happy to be alive. [laughter] >> no, no, no. let me ask because i'm going to be honest to god i am white, i get a lot more reporting.

just being honest, dealing with the 80-pound gorilla in the room. i know there are lots of black men were if they were white and the police treated in the way they're treated as black men they would pick up the phone and give a badge number of a lot quicker than if they were african-american. as a citizen what are our rights and responsibilities as it relates to how we are treated by the police? if we feel we are treated unfairly, what really is our options? and internally how is that viewed? and that is department might department. >> agency specific, a responsible progressive agency will have the opportunity for you to make a complaint about any police officer at anytime, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. you can make it anonymously, in person, through a third person come online, over the phone,

however you want to do it and the agency if it's a responsible agency will thoroughly investigate that incident and get back to you with at least an explanation for what the officer said he or she did and why they did it. it might not satisfy you but they may do that. and then if they are very good, they will also explain to you, here are the circumstances, here's the law partners here's the law partners are training them here's what we do what we do. hope you understand. some agencies won't do that. i was at a conference in texas with an agency there, and their use of force policy, their use of force policy for downs was never take me out, never take me out in anger. never put me away in shame. this was less than 20 years ago but never take me out in anger, never put away in shame. how do you make a complaint in the agency? come on in and make one if you think you can. there's an entire spectrum of

thoughts and responses to citizens. i would say to you clearly one is horribly wrong and not progressive. the other one is what we should expect from our agencies can what we should demand from police agencies in america. there are no two ways about it. we have to demand accountability and oversight of our police officers and our police agencies. not to be mean officers, not to demean agencies, not to demonize them anyway, but we should be a busy whether not we're doing a good job and/or whether or not we are doing a bad job. we should be able to get verification from our communities for the. if we can't then something is not going well. >> we have about 15 minutes unless someone tells me otherwise. i want to make sure we can get to as many of these questions as possible. what i would like to do is if they can get three questions immediately, we will get the panel to answer that and then we'll try to get to the last

three which i've this means if you're not in line, please don't get in line. [laughter] >> talk about how police officers are recruit and whether not a needs to be approached as more of a committee service our national service type of arrangement where it's a short-term commitment as opposed to a long-term career. and on the flipside to that, whether or not it would make sense to create some kind of pipeline where your recruiting returning veterans or other military personnel to conserve the community as police officers. >> great, thank you. >> i don't know if the training will solve this. according to fbi statistics there's a higher percentage of punishment than minority officers a white citizen. what can we do to decrease these stats? >> thank you. >> hopefully for the reverend but anyone can answer. you talked a lot about police

mistrust in the place, especially in the african-american community. so what do you think as a community you would need to see from law enforcement on a day-to-day basis to rebuild that trust and law enforcement among members of the community? >> thank you. three questions but each of you please take one adequate as you can. reverend, you mentioned some of those things but talk more about what you'd like to see from law enforcement. than the other two questions come in some cases dovetailed but we are talking about the percentage of african-american officers shooting on african-americans. some of that just speaks to the percentages. we've got fewer african-american officers so that goes to the first question. if you all could do with pipelines. of love for you all to you about what are some programs to target the development of officers from communities of color, whether they be black, latino, asian or

these officers they represent a smaller percentage of various forces. are the programs were pipelines you are seeing working? reverend, and then mr. alexander or streicher, please take this other two questions. >> i think i heard him say rebuild trust. we have to first build trust so we can't rebuild what has not been built. i'm not sure where you're coming from with that, but anyway as jeff said i've kind of responded to some of the. i just think the consciousness across the community has to be elevated from leadership. and not just governmental, political, law enforcement leadership. leadership across the border. for instance, in my community some of my plan and, not me personally but some of the colleagues i work with come is to bring the white this is community closer to the black business community, white

churches closer to black churches. you know, in the sense that the collaborative efforts to begin productive dialogue across the board with tears of leaders. our young people have to begin to see the leaders who are credible coming together, not just ceremoniously. not just to say we had a great conversation and we join hands and we sang whom i know, but you really have serious -- kumbaya by to have a short and long-term goals about transforming the village. on franklin, former president of morehouse college wrote the book, crises in the village. you said ferguson, you know, ma if you will, cedric, represents a unique situation in terms of trust or mistrust of the criminal justice system. i would take that further to say it's not unique to ferguson.

when you look at mass incarceration across america and the like, mistrust of the criminal justice system and mistrust of police is nationwide. ferguson happens to be the metaphor right now. so to answer your question, it's not an easy take. it's going to take some serious, serious planning, dialoguing. but again implementing initiatives that in the long and short term that can turn this around at every level. there must be leadership at the top, leadership at the bottom coming together, holding hands together and ensuring that we not only dialogue but that we come up with creative long and short-term plans to turn this around. >> if you could take a part of the question which i thought was interesting which is, should philosophically we start looking at how we recruit police officers differently? where it's not necessary a

career decision but a service decision to in some cases the we were looking at education and teachers. is that a thought process in certain communities? what does that look like? >> there are less and less career police officers were joined the force today. what we have learned is that in the millennial population in particular, and i see it everyday, a lot of these young people are coming on a 21, 22 years of age, they may not stay but three, four, five years and they're moving on. they're not doing to 25 and 30 years as the parents or as others have done to these kids come and stay for a short period of time and then they move on to something else. i see that every day in and around the atlanta community. so that is happening on its own, but in terms of here begins the recruitment, yes, we are going to have to recruit better. but remember, about every

thousand young people, persons, not necessarily 21 because there's no age limit, but for a thousand people that may apply to be police officers, we may end up with 30 or 40. here again, or 50 or 60 out of that group. and we trained them, but i think our training modules are going to have to change in terms of how we trained police officers. there's much to be done in the area around communication, around cultural competence and around confronting and facing our own biases, knowing what they are because we all have them. and regardless of whether the office are black or white, will be one at the end of the day, we want a good public servant who's going to come out and circa protect the community at large. we as community members have got to support them as well.

>> chief streicher, let me commend and i'll have you will get some closing thoughts from the last questions. the other question that was asked was about african-american officers. and part of the reasoning i hear is fewer african-americans apply to be police officers, few make it to the process. in many cases the our young people in the communities that make themselves ineligible to go through the academy as a result of things that have happened to them previously in their life. our departments beginning to do a better job of creating pipelines, talking to people about being in law enforcement at early ages? looking at some of these schools that are focused on law enforcement, whether it's to go on and be a lawyer or be a law enforcement officer, what are the ways your finding effective ways to build the pipeline that i think his brother was talking about so we can see increased numbers of latino, asian,

african-americans offices, especially in certain communities speak with i think one of the disconnects in policing is that the decision-making and the way things they said come with your tenure in your agency. that is, if he of several years on your consider a veteran officer. you get to make decisions about how the agency runs. if you have not been there but for a couple of years, shut up kid can sit over there. we will tell you how it's done. so unfortunately there's a disconnect, a generational disconnect in policing. i think there are probably people like myself, i have to say this right here, if you start to talk about technology, i think it's a wonderful thing but i'm scared to death of it. i have five grandchildren to grab a ipad and my iphone and can function, operator. three of them are three years old. they can function my ipad and my iphone and do things with it that i didn't know it could do. there's a clue right there for us.

that's part of how we are functioning because we're just missing agencies start use things like facebook, twitter. those types of things that really appealed to the masses. how do we protect police departments? would you like to be a police officer? what is a police officer? do we tell people there are literally dozens if not hundreds of different jobs you can get inside of the police department? you want to be a forensic detective the? would you like to be someone who becomes, let me think of this term, i can't even think of it. anyway, it's the person who can take different types of images and recordings and put those all together and present to you a picture of what occurred based on recordings, both audio and visual. i forget the name of it, of the position but they're all these different things that can be done, including just being a police officer. here's the real reason i think, historically in every single police agency across this

country, your best recruiting tool du jour employees themselves. your employees will come in its i don't kid the is named cedric alexander. is neighbors with my mother. let's try to recruit this kid. or i've got a nephew, i've got a son, i've got a daughter, no coal, enhanced. most of it comes from within said the agency. distorted also police agencies have been almost completely white. i started in 1971. those classes were 50 white guys and two black guys but one of the two black guys would pass and edward whitfield. we would have 51 people come out. it you are recruiting -- if you're recruiting is coming from inside the agency, and you're hiring 50 white guys and one black guy, what is your recruiting going continue to be? how are you going to higher? as agencies progress, and we do become more open now, our agency is about 38% african-american, about 25% female come and the

rest are white guys. it's going to change the way we recruit because the internal recruiting mechanism that we use our own templates is going to reach out to a much more the first community to that is, their own community. that's i think the very best method for us moving forward. >> if you all can very quickly ask your questions, and then we're going to allow our panelists closing thoughts. >> this question is for mr. alexander or chief streicher is there anything in place going back to the training that you are talking about that routinely or annually test them psychologically or within the stress factor determined if they are having anything going on at home or bringing their problems to work, or if they have been ex-military and they just have a relapse or suppress things that they've been only done that they want to respond to on the

particular call dealing with that particular victim, suspect or the citizen and if you will? is there anything in place that is testing them for stress in psychological things? >> thank you so much. >> since -- excuse me. since an incident that happened like this, the entire nation gets involved. and i'm wondering if it would be feasible since police officers across the country have such extreme authority and power, would it be feasible to have dialogue about having a federal regulation that governs all police department's across the nation said you would have a uniform code? >> thank you. >> i spent the last 10 years working in education and i'm curious, could you point to specific examples of committee engagement or school engagement opportunities that police departments have taken?

into their engagement strategy as they progress. .. all of them have graduated from high school. 80% have gone on to college and none have been murdered.